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Tuesday 31 January 2023

Preparing for the Coming Coercion (Complete)

Preparing For The Coming Coercion

The Spirit Of Antichrist is Coercion Part 2

Introduction

Last year, I stood here and spoke to you about how the spirit of antichrist appears again and again in history and seeks to mandate its will with coercion. I spoke about how to identify that Spirit and why we should not comply with coercion. This year I want to build on the same idea to look forward to how Christians can respond to the trends we observe in our society.

If you read the Bible, and I am sure most of you here do very regularly, then you will know there are many passages which tell us to be good citizens, obedient citizens, etc. But many Christians can forget that we are called to be good citizens of two kingdoms, not just one. We are told to obey earthly authorities and seek to be good neighbours and citizens, and we are also told to honour God with our life and conscience and obey him above all else as citizens of heaven. We live in the tension between these two truths. This tension is increasing because Australia is becoming more hostile to Christian beliefs and teachings.

This is creating a bit of a culture shock for Aussie Christians because Christians have had it so easy in Australia for so long. Our faith was still being tested, it was just being tested by ease and prosperity and abundance. It is very likely that going forward it is going to be tested by the taking away of these things.

This is hard for many Aussies Christians to accept, because we all just want to be good and obedient citizens and we always thought we were part of mainstream society and we just grew up with the belief that government could never be against us. But in history this happens often, even in the Christian West, and therefore we need to build new faith muscles that prepare us for the hard times coming. Australia is becoming increasingly anti-Christian and more and more coercive, and because of this, conflict with government commands is going to happen.

Let me demonstrate: If you are commanded to call a boy a girl, or a girl a boy, and therefore lie and blaspheme the image of God, will you do it? If you are told that the Bible is hate speech will you stop sharing its words? Such ideas and events are increasing, and the fat happy days of excess are fading, and more and more your conscience is going to be tested by the sword of government, and you need to be prepared for this, and for a peaceful and firm response like the Apostles, “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). 

Are you prepared for this? Are you? We are told to aspire to live a quiet life, but we are not promised that we will have it. Are you prepared for what is very likely coming? Today that’s what I want to help you be, prepared to for the coming coercion. Let’s begin.

Increasing Coercion – First I want to establish why I am convinced that coercion is going to increase. I know for some of you here I do not need to establish this, you can see what I can see, maybe even more clearly. I am not a prophet and don’t claim to be one. I don’t claim to have supernatural foresight anymore than any other reader or preacher of God’s word does when he looks at the clear words of Scripture. I am by specialty a historian. I observe the trends of history and when you watch them closely you can see patterns, clear patterns.

The Bible itself does this a lot. Much of the word of God is one writer reflecting on what happened in a past era and learning from it, as Paul tells us, “11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

The Bible wants us to observe the patterns of history and learn from them, especially those in the Bible.

The patterns of coercion are building and they are obvious to those observing them.

History helps us with our topic today, specifically, Irenaeus and his famous work Against Heresies. Irenaeus describes well the final kingdom, and he was convinced it would be Rome. Much of the early Church did, it fit the description so well. He draws his description of the final kingdom from Nebuchadnezzars’ vision in Daniel, this is what he notes.

“Daniel 2:33-34 Then afterwards, when interpreting this, he says: And as you saw the feet and the toes, partly indeed of clay, and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it a root of iron, as you saw iron mixed with baked clay. And the toes were indeed the one part iron, but the other part clay. Daniel 2:41-42 The ten toes, therefore, are these ten kings, among whom the kingdom shall be partitioned, of whom some indeed shall be strong and active, or energetic; others, again, shall be sluggish and useless, and shall not agree; as also Daniel says: Some part of the kingdom shall be strong, and part shall be broken from it. As you saw the iron mixed with the baked clay, there shall be minglings among the human race, but no cohesion one with the other, just as iron cannot be welded on to pottery ware.”[i]

Daniel observes that the final kingdom, the last one to rule the earth, will be a great multicultural kingdom with one power ruling over the world, and ruling over the mixed nations (Rev. 17:15-18 says the same thing).

But I want to draw a different point for today. One thing we know from history is that ruling over big mixed empires, where every nation wants to live their own way, takes an iron first, and increasing power and coercion.

Much like we do today, Irenaeus looked at what the Bible says about the final kingdom, looked at the world in his day, and saw a lot of overlap. How could he not? Rome was the original multi-continent spanning empire. In his day it would have looked invincible.

Irenaeus believed that Rome would be the final empire. It was exactly like the kingdom Daniel described, a mixture of nations living together, under one powerful beast, one powerful ruler. Strong, but fragile.

-        Strong, because it was the military superpower of the world.

-        Fragile, because many of the nations under its iron fist resented its rule.

What I want to focus on is the similarities between this ancient pagan empire and the increasingly pagan global empire that we live in today, the Anglo-American empire.

The Tolerance of Rome - Think about this, Rome ruled over many people from all over the known world, and, most people forget this, Rome was remarkably and famously tolerant. Romans were proud of their tolerant society.

-        Marcus Aurelius said, “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

-        J B Bury notes, “The general rule of Roman policy was to tolerate throughout the Empire all religions and all opinions. Blasphemy was not punished. The principle was expressed in the maxim of the Emperor Tiberius: ‘If the gods are insulted, let them see to it themselves.’[ii]

Many Christians do not think of Rome as tolerant, because Rome persecuted Christians. But if you read the accounts of this you will see this persecution, though it could be severe, was sporadic and was often done at the instigation of influential and wealthy Jewish leaders. We see this in the book of Acts, and in the writings of the Church fathers.

The Romans’ did not care much about the intricacies of biblical law, we see this in the Bible, as well.

Hatred from Romans – However, there were some things which could stir the Romans directly against Christians:  

“Blaspheming” Caesar - If you refused to honour the cult of Caesar, some Emperors and some local governors would turn against you for that. “The objection of the Christians—they and the Jews were the only objectors—to the worship of the Emperors was, in the eyes of the Romans, one of the most sinister signs that their religion was dangerous.”[iii]

“Denying the gods” – Denying the pagan gods was also hated, “The populace felt a horror of this mysterious Oriental sect which openly hated all the gods and prayed for the destruction of the world.”[iv] The Roman’s did not really care what gods you worshipped or did not worship, just that you recognized the validity of other gods. If you said that there was only one way to properly believe in one true God, they saw this as atheism, as mentally deficient and therefore dangerous. This they did not tolerate.

They would also not tolerate a people under their rule seeking to rule themselves. This they crushed wherever it appeared.

Rome was an empire of many peoples, and when many vastly different peoples mix together you get friction, and it takes a strong and oppressive hand to hold down this friction.

So, Rome was tolerant, for the compliant.

In fact, if you wanted to be left alone in Rome, then the more “Roman” you became, the better off you would be. No matter where you were from, if you honoured the cult of the emperor, did not criticize the religious practices of others, and spoke Latin or Greek, or both, you would be left alone.

Does this sound familiar? “When is Rome do as the Romans do.” And you will be fine. Claim a unique source of truth and you were public enemy number one.  

Tolerant and Brutal – So Rome was tolerant and liberal to the compliant. But if you transgressed their cultural norms in the few areas where they said you could not go, the tyrannical symbol of the cross hung over your heads reminding you of their brutality to dissenters.

The cross was a threat of excruciating death for non-citizens who troubled the Romans. And it was just one of many brutal ways they could kill you.

Rome tolerated the compliant, and furiously crushed all who they believed did not fit with their “tolerant” ways.

I hope you are starting to see parallels between our society and Roman society. Our society might not be quite as harsh yet, but still there are similarities. Rome was coercive because it was pagan and it ruled over many disparate peoples with different ideas of how society should be run.

Our society is increasingly pagan, and increasingly multicultural and therefore, we live in a society where many disparate peoples with different ideas of how society should be run live together under one ruling ideology. Call it globalism, neo-liberalism, democratic socialism, cultural Marxism, whatever you like. It is just plain old Satanism, and it will tolerate all kinds of vices and none of the true distinctive virtues of Christianity - like the word of God being the highest standard of truth.  

The final kingdom will be much like Rome, but so too will all multicultural empires. This pattern keeps showing up in history.

So how do we navigate this kind of society? Lucky for us, the Bible was written to people in a similar situation, so we can learn from the Apostles, let’s have a look.  

Bold Men of God – We see an example in Acts 5 where the disciples get caught between the concept of being citizens of two kingdoms. They have just been arrested for teaching in the temple, and imprisoned, and this happens,

“19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:19-32)

I want to draw out of this just a few basic principles to help you navigate the coming increasing coercion.

Rely on God (vv.19-21) – Not just in name, not just in words, not just cliches. I mean really, truly and genuinely ask God for big things in your life, the life of your family, friends, church, community and nation. Why?

Because your God is the God who can send a supernatural being, an angel, to sneak you out of prison under the noses of the guards, without them even knowing what is happening. That is your God.

The God of the Exodus, the God of the conquest of Canaan, the God of Elijah and Daniel and Ezekiel. The God of the resurrection!

Am I promising that God is going to do this exact thing for you? No, God will answer many of your prayers just as you asked, and many of your prayers otherwise, and always according to his will. But if your God is the one who can do this, then why be afraid of petty governors, counsellors, or whoever telling you to transgress the will of God?

Practice asking God to work in power in your life, and build your muscles of faith, you are going to need them.

Be Radical In Your Devotion To God’s Word (vv.29) – The Chief Priests had told the Apostles not to preach in the temple, they ignored this got arrested, and then God told them to do it all again. So they did. This is devotion. This is radical obedience.  

The Apostles were released the next time, after they were beaten. Their response to being beaten for sharing the gospel was to celebrate God.

Be radical in your devotion to peacefully obeying the Word of God.

Boldly Proclaim The Gospel Often (30-31) – The disciples were commanded not to preach about Jesus of Nazareth. In the middle of being grilled about breaking this command, they preach the message of Jesus of Nazareth, again, “30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

This is boldness. This is strength. They knew that this could get them killed, yet they did it anyway. This is why most of them were eventually killed. But remember, their opponents needed to hear the gospel just as much as anyone else.  

Are you this bold to proclaim the message of Jesus, in the face of those who hate the message the most? To tell them to repent, turn to Jesus and trust in him? Could you do this?

Work In Teams (vv.17-32) – And lastly, don’t seek to do this alone. Whether you read this passage, or any other passage in Acts, we see the Christians facing down opposition in groups or pairs. It is not good for man to be alone, it is not good for Christians to face coercion, or anything in life, like radical individualists.

The secret to over-coming coercion is that there is no secret. What you need is to apply to your life the same old-fashioned Christianity that was handed down by the Apostles; trust and obey Jesus above all else.

That is the key.   

Conclusion – Victory over Tyranny – We must remember that we are part of a faith that turned the cross, a symbol of terror and oppression, into a symbol of hope and salvation. The greatest terror made into the greatest joy. Think about that.

This happened, because generations of believers clung to Christ and followed the Apostles in their bold witness. This is our chance to continue their legacy, let’s be bold and live this out. Let’s pray.



[i] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book Five, Chaper 26, pg 513. 

[ii] Bury, J. B.. A History of Freedom of Thought (p. 17). e-artnow. Kindle Edition.

[iii] Bury, J. B.. A History of Freedom of Thought (p. 18). e-artnow. Kindle Edition.

[iv] Bury, J. B.. A History of Freedom of Thought (p. 18). e-artnow. Kindle Edition.

Monday 30 January 2023

What Is Your Price?


What is your price? How much does someone need to offer you to buy you off? 

If you stood against the coercive vaccine mandates, what was your price? How much did they have to offer you to get you to take it? Some of my readers and friends lost income, work, jobs, friendships, family, career opportunities and more. I bet if I asked almost everyone who said no, they would tell me that there was no price, there was no way they were going to take it. It was not worth any money that they could offer you. And in many ways they proved this with their actions. 

Some did this for medical reasons. Some did this for ethical reasons. Some did this for relationship reasons. Some did this because they could smell the stench of sulfur around the whole situation and knew in their heart that they should not participate. For some of you it was a combination of all of these things. It was never about money or things. 

The point is, even if, for many of you, when you were offered material benefits to take the vaccine you still said no, because there are many things more important than material wealth. Depending on your reasoning it may have been your health, your ethics, your principles, for some even their soul, etc, etc*. It wasn't about the money, it was never about the money, the things, or the comforts, for you it was about doing the right thing. That is why you said no. In my heart I could not go along with the most wicked rise of coercion of conscience in the modern era. My conscience would not let me. There were other reasons too. 

What does this have to do with the picture in the blog?

Well, this: for many Indigenous Australians, it is not about the money, the technology, the comforts, or even the civilisation. This is not what it is about. For some, this is enough to make them happy, but for many it is not about this. No one can deny that Colonization improved Australia. You might hate me for saying this, call out that saying this is racist, but it is a fact that it did. Australia went from a backward primitive land and all that entails, to become one of the most advanced first world economies on the planet. This is an indisputable fact. For many people, most, that is an undeniable improvement for this country. 

But if you are a principled person, you know that money and comfort are not everything. You know that Jesus saying no to the Devil to gain the power over all the kingdoms of the world is not worth your soul, and therefore you know that saying no to taking the ticket, being bought out, is a good thing to do. Even if you don't always do it, when the opportunity comes. 

There is something inside the soul of many Indigenous people which thinks, "Yep, we have so many things, but we aren't our own masters." And all the riches in the world could not convince a principled person to give up their own mastership just for things. This is where some of them sit, and I get this. Many arguments by people, such as the one in the image, don't understand that this is an important part of the discussion, and I probably didn't until a few years ago myself. 

Now that you have stood up to the system you would understand this better now as well. We all should. You would understand how much you were willing to lose a lot to say no. Some of you literally did do this. You lost a lot.  

I get this, not because I am Indigenous, I am not. I am of mostly English and some Russian descent. I am the son of an Englishman and an Aussie woman. I get this, because if you look forward you can see how we Anglo-Saxon Aussies are losing our nation, before our own eyes, and with this comes our own self-determination as a people. Already our culture is beholden to globalist interests, and pretty much every Aussie resents this already. Fast forward 200 years, and we may feel just as the Indigenous do now, that we are no longer masters in our own land, and that we do not like this. Fast-forward 20 years and this may be the case, depending on world events, and the changing of imperial powers.  

My point here is not to say we should try and turn things back, we can't. My point is to note that we need to start paying attention to how things are developing, before we are no longer masters in our own land. And we need to understand better, why for many people it is not about the shiny things that colonization brought them, it is about being sovereign in the land of your people. This means more to many people than things. It is good for Aussies to love our nation and want it freed from foreign interference. This is natural for any people.   

*some people saw the coercion as evil and therefore just could not in good conscience participate. 

Sunday 29 January 2023

Innocence

Image: Unsplash


"No doubt by now some readers are puzzled at my repeated use of the words virgin and maiden, and, if those readers went to public school instead of getting an education, they are not only puzzled but offended. This brings up a second and larger point about woodland creatures working at human tasks, which is, namely, what power does the fairy tale virgin possess which enables her to overcome or ignore the gap between man and nature which afflicts the rest of the Sons of Adam?

It is, of course, her innocence. 

Much as it appalls the brain-dead zombies indoctrinated by public schools, innocence is better than the cynicism or shared guilt or victimology taught by modern thought, and, if we place faith in the account Moses told the Children of Israel about Eden, it was lack of innocence that drove the parents of mankind out of paradise."

John C. Wright, Transhuman and Subhuman

No your kids don't need to be forced to see the world as it is, as young children. Innocence is a good thing, and should be protected and treasured. It was our original state before the fall. They will come to understand what the world is eventually, no need to rush this realisation by sending them out without your supervision.

Saturday 28 January 2023

A Church Community Effort (Titus 3:12-15)

 

Image: Unsplash

Sermon Twelve – A Church Community Effort, (Titus 3:12-15)

You can watch the video of this sermon here.

Introduction

Today we come to our final sermon in our Titus series which we began a few months ago with a sermon on who are the Elect? I chose this book for several reasons. One, we want to put on some new elders and this book reflects on the qualifications for the men that you choose to represent you in the eldership. We are going to look at more of what the Bible says about this in coming weeks as well. Two, because this book challenges modern conceptions of gender roles, and I think it is incredibly fruitful to compare our modern ideas and conceptions of gender roles to what the Bible actually says. We tend to assume that we are wiser than the ancients, I call this kind of thinking modern supremacy and it is foolish. In some ways we are wiser, in other ways we live on the shoulders of their greatness, and in many ways we are just dumber.

Third, because this book contains one of the most powerful verses regarding the meaning of Grace in the whole Bible, Titus 2:11-12 – “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,…” Many people see grace as permission to sin, permission to walk in rebellion, as one preacher I know puts it, “Most people confuse grace with grease, making it easier to sin.” But true Biblical grace changes a person, develops them, makes them more Christlike. It trains us to say no to ungodliness. I love this verse and quote it a lot, and thought it was time to preach it in the context of the book of Titus.

Titus is a powerful little book because it challenges in many ways modern Church culture. Just as do other parts of the New Testament. But it also gives us powerful wisdom for maintaining a biblical church in today’s culture. This is becoming more challenging, because increasingly the Church is sanctifying Australian culture as Christian culture. And they are not the same. From family, to gender, to life’s focus, to understandings about godliness, and so many other things, more of the Church is capitulating to culture, and it is becoming easier for Christians to find a church that affirms their way of life, rather than challenges it. And really, we all need to reflect on whether how we live is culturally or biblically influenced? All of us, every single one of us, is influenced by the culture that we live in, and we need to examine these influences. Titus does this for us beautifully.

Today we are bringing this series on Titus to a close with one of Paul’s famous endings giving final directions to him in his ministry. I want us today to look at what he says at the end of Titus, and then compare it to what he says at the end of some of the other letters in his book. Let’s see what this ending to Titus tells us about Paul, his ministry and his ministry partners.

Final Greetings (3:12-15) – Paul ends his letter to Titus in this way,

“12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.”

The first thing we see here, is that even lawyers can be saved…just stirring. But in all seriousness, Paul’s final greetings give us a bit of a window in the who this man was. Paul is giving his final instructions to Titus. Titus himself was not exactly a pastor, or an elder, he was an apostolic helper or assistant. Paul had a big team that he relied upon to make his ministry work.

It is important to remember that Church ministry is a team effort. We tend to think of Paul as this stand out missionary, who went about all his work and stood alone in a world against all kinds of unrighteousness, and advanced the gospel.

We tend to remember the man Paul, and his writings, but forget that he was always a team player. Paul never went about his missionary journeys alone.

In fact, from the very beginning of the Bible we see that God says it is not good for man to be alone, Genesis 2:18 - “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” The initial context of this is that a young man should aim to find a wife. But we also see this principle applied in various ways in the Bible.

-        God designed his people to flourish in a community, first a nation and then the Church.

-        Jesus, the Lord himself on earth, did not do ministry alone, but built a team around him.

-        Peter, James and John, are often described as ministering together. Peter later took his wife with him ministry (1 Peter 9:5).

-        Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, Paul and Timothy, Paul and Titus. Again and again we see how Paul worked with others.

Our modern individualistic society places the emphasis on individual success and effort. But the Bible wants us to always think in terms of fellowship, and companionship, doing things together, not on our own.

I use the terms fellowship and companionship deliberately instead of relationship, because relationship, a word I don’t think the Bible ever uses, carries the idea of face to face knowing and experiencing. This idea fits with intimacy between married couples, and knowledge between God and ourselves, and certain other contexts.

But fellowship carries the idea of side-by-side adventuring and achieving and doing together. You still become close and get to know each other, but you do it in the context of advancing the kingdom. We are created for this kind of fellowship, especially men, which is why some of the greatest stories ever told centre around this idea. As does much of the Bible.

Fellowship carries this idea of being part of something important with others, something worth doing, worth advancing.

Paul’s ministry is filled with evidence of how he had this focus. And there is no doubt that this is a big part of why he achieved so much.

Let’s have a look at the team he took with him.  

The Dream Team – Here at the end of Titus we see Paul mentions four of this team. Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, let’s have a look at what we can know about these guys, biblically and historically.

Artemas – The Bible does not tell us much about Artemas, except that he was a helper of Paul’s. According to Church history Artemas became a bishop in Lystra. We can see however, that Paul sending him as his representative tells us that to some degree he trusted him. His becoming an overseer, or elder in the early church, shows that he was a man of note.  

Tychicus - you have probably never heard of Tychicus, I could not recall his name, but he is mentioned five times in the Bible:

Acts 20:4 tells us that he was one of the missionaries that accompanied Paul on one of his missionary journeys, “Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.”

When it says Asian, it means he was from Asia Minor, what we today call Turkey or Anatolia, but what was for most of history part of Greek civilisation. So, it means a Greek from Eastern Greece. In fact, the ancient Illiad, or what most people remember as the Battle of Troy, happened in this region.

Colossians and Ephesians tell us how much Paul relied on Tychicus:

Ephesians 6:21, “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything.”

Colossians 4:7, “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.”

This man was incredibly close to Paul, he was a beloved brother and a faithful minister. He was the kind of guy you wanted working with you and this last verse really highlights that.  

2 Timothy 4:9-12 lets us know this man was there till the end,

“9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.”

Towards the end of Paul’s ministry, even after all he had gone through, and many had abandoned him, still Tychicus was supporting Paul’s work.

This man is obviously not just a name in a list, he was a vital part of the ministry of Paul. But if we skip over these kinds of verses we miss how important he was.

Zenas the Lawyer – We don’t know much about this man, just that his name was short for Zenodoros which means “gift of Zeus”. And that he was a lawyer either of Roman or Jewish law, we do not know. We know he is mentioned alongside of Apollos, so Paul believed he was someone of note.

I can’t help but wonder that Paul took a lawyer with him, when he could, because he got in so much legal trouble so often. From both Jews and Romans. Paul was constantly being arrested, jailed and beaten. Not a bad idea to have a lawyer on your team.   

Apollos – The most famous of all these people mentioned in this passage is Apollos, he is mentioned about 10 times in the Bible, and is a major figure. We read of him in Acts 18:24-28 –

“24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.”

Apollos was a giant in the early Church. He worked closely alongside Paul and had every bit the same kind of recognition as Paul in the very early church.

We read of him in 1 Corinthians these statements which show his stature, 1 Corinthians 1:11-12 - “11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.””

That’s an illustrious list there. Some people are placing Apollos on the level of Paul and Peter. Of course, the one’s who say, “I am just following Christ”, are always the “truly spiritual” ones.

It was not just the Corinthians who saw Apollos as one of the great teachers, Paul himself tells us,

“5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building” (I Cor. 3:5-9).

Paul says Apollo watered, implying he did much of the teaching.

Can you imagine the quality of teaching that Apollos must have been capable of? Think of it like this, if you have the Apostle Paul coming to your Church, and you hand the microphone over to some other guy, he must know what he is doing.

The Romans 16 list – Before we get to what this list tells us about Paul, I want to briefly show you Paul’s crack team in Romans 16:1-16 –

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.”

There’s a few things to note in this passage, Paul’s ministry team across his years of ministry was vast and it was filled with all kinds of people. Paul was very clear in other letters about the differences between the roles for men and women, but this does not mean there is no place for women in various serving roles in the churches.

Paul mentions Phoebe the deacon (the word for servant there is deacon), Prisca and Aquila a ministry team that mentored Apollos, the great teacher, Mary, not sure which Mary, but there were many great Mary’s in the Bible, Junia, who is famous among the Apostles, Rufus’ mother, who was like a mother to Paul. Among others.

The men and women in this list were beloved by Paul, and served the Lord in ministry in various different ways.

Our Church also has female deacons, serving alongside the men, and many other male and female ministry leaders which make the work of ministry here possible. Many of whom serve behind the scenes.

These guys all made up part of Paul’s crack team. So, what does Paul’s team here tell us about the Apostle himself?

What does this tell us about Paul? So what does Paul’s team tell us about him?

Team-based ministry – Well, we already noted this, but it shows us that Paul had a team-based focus in his ministry. The team changed over time as well. Some people moved on for good reasons. Some were sent by Paul to a certain church, and some people moved on for bad reasons, like Barnabas, who did not see eye to eye with Paul over Mark, or Demas, of which we are told, 2 Timothy 4:10, “10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”

Some people will give up on you because they don’t agree, or they love what the world has to offer.

But despite this, Paul was willing to work with others, and to some degree he trusted himself to these other people. This is an incredibly hard thing for a lot of people to do. Some people have been hurt by others in the Church, they have been used by a Church leadership, they have burnt out for some other reason. Paul experienced all of this, but he still continued to minister in the team way that God intends for his people.  

Good People – But we also see that Paul worked hard to minimize the damage to himself, by choosing good people to work with, Ephesians 6:21, “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything.” Barnabas chose Paul, and for a time they appeared to be an invincible ministry team, but Paul eventually overshadowed Barnabas. Paul observed what having someone abandon him in ministry could do, so he chose not to go with Mark again, at least for a time. But we see from his description of men like Tychicus, that Paul chose people to minister with him that he could rely on.

Paul faced all kinds of dangers. When your life is on the line, and you have to entrust yourself to people, you want them to be the kind of person that is described like this, “beloved brother and faithful minister.” Minister in this context could mean that he was a church leader, or just could be being used in the sense of servant. But either way, he was faithful in his duties.

You are better to surround yourself with faithful people, as opposed to gifted people. Some people will disagree with me, here, but faithfulness trumps giftedness for me every time. It is ideal when people have both. But faithfulness needs to come first.

Gifted People – That being said, we should not avoid working with people who are gifted, maybe even more gifted than ourselves, if they are faithful. Some ministry leaders or pastors can feel threatened by people whose gifts are like theirs, or even superior. I think this is a silly way to see things, I understand it, but it is foolish to think this way. It’s obvious to me that Paul was not like this, we read this before, 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 –

“5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” Paul’s emphasis in this passage tells us a few things,

-        He was not over competitive, he was happy to work with others.

-        He encouraged and utilized the very gifted Apollos, instead of feeling threatened by him.

-        He correctly saw himself and Apollos as fellow servants of God, and nothing else. It was not Paul’s ministry, it was not Apollos’ ministry, it was God’s ministry. Because of this he was not worried about his position, but was able to focus on using the gifts God had given him.

People Who Fought till the End – And of course, alongside of these faithful ministers, Paul himself fought all the way to the end. We see no diminishment of the passion for the gospel and good works as Paul got older, he kept working faithfully till the end.

I think it is more important to find people to minister with that will stand by you, rather than agree with you. You don’t need to agree with somebody on everything. And even those you do, you will find things that you disagree on. The rare treasure, and it is a treasure to be valued, is someone who will stand with you in tough times.

Like Tychicus did for Paul.

Let’s work more and more to be this kind of church.

Conclusion – I want to finish by sharing a simple illustration which helps put this all in perspective:

“When you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in a "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing that it has been discovered why they fly that way. Research has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately behind it. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. 

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back into the formation, and another Geese now takes the point position.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

And finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunfire and falls out, two other geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the goose until it is either able to fly again or dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group.”[i]

This illustration is self explanatory. In many ways our church is already like this, let’s continue to build on this in the coming year. Let’s pray.



[i] John C. Maxwell. Developing the Leaders Around You (pp.8-9).

Friday 27 January 2023

Preparing for the Coming Coercion

I am getting ready to give a talk about preparing for the coming coercion in our increasingly non-Christian society. Here is my introduction:

Introduction

Last year, I stood here and spoke to you about how the spirit of antichrist appears again and again in history and seeks to mandate its will with coercion. I spoke about how to identify that Spirit and why we should not comply with coercion. This year I want to build on the same idea to look forward to how Christians can respond to the trends we observe in our society.

If you read the Bible, and I am sure most of you here do very regularly, then you will know there are many passages which tell us to be good citizens, obedient citizens, etc. But many Christians can forget that we are called to be good citizens of two kingdoms, not just one. We are told to obey earthly authorities and seek to be good neighbours and citizens, and we are also told to honour God with our life and conscience and obey him above all else as citizens of heaven. We live in the tension between these two truths. This tension is increasing because Australia is becoming more hostile to Christian beliefs and teachings.

This is creating a bit of a culture shock for Aussie Christians, because Christians have had it so easy in Australia for so long. Our faith was still being tested, it was just being tested by ease and prosperity and abundance. It is very likely that going forward it is going to be tested by the taking away of these things.

This is hard for many Aussies Christians to accept, because we all just want to be good and obedient citizens and we always thought we were part of mainstream society and we just grew up with the belief that government could never be against us. But in history this happens often, even in the Christian West, and therefore we need to build new faith muscles that prepare us for the hard times coming. Australia is becoming increasingly anti-Christian and more and more coercive, and because of this, conflict with government commands is going to happen.

Let me demonstrate: If you are commanded to call a boy a girl, or a girl a boy, and therefore lie and blaspheme the image of God, will you do it? If you are told that the Bible is hate speech, will you stop sharing its words? Such ideas and events are increasing, and the fat happy days of excess are fading, and more and more your conscience is going to be tested by the sword of government, and you need to be prepared for this, and for a peaceful and firm response like the Apostles, “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). 

Are you prepared for this? Are you? We are told to aspire to live a quiet life, but we are not promised that we will have it. Are you prepared for what is very likely coming? Today that’s what I want to help you be, prepared to for the coming coercion. Let’s begin.

Pray that this talk goes well, and that people are blessed and encouraged to stand boldly for Jesus. And if you read this post after today, then just pray that God would help the message cement into the hearts of all who heard it, and pray that we can apply it. Also, pray for myself and yourself that we can be bold as times get tougher. Our God is the God of the resurrection, he is on our team, his people should be bold. 

I will share the full message here at another point.

Thursday 26 January 2023

Happy Australia Day

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Happy Australia Day. 

Our flag is a wonderful representation of who Australia is. The Union Jack, the Blue Ensign, the flag of Great Britain, holds within it the Irish, Scottish, and English and Welsh flags (Wales being united in English rule). The southern Cross represents their representation in the south land "Terra Australis". With the seven pointed Commonwealth Star noting our connection to our British brethren across the seas. Along with the Irish and British convicts and settlers, this is who was forged into this unique new identity in the Southern Seas: Australian.

Though the wicked multiculturalists seek to redefine your nationality away. Though they seek to tell you it is defined by state decree through a passport. Though they try to say there is no such thing as Australian ethnicity. There is and it is recognized across the world by all who encounter it as distinct and different. Our way of speech still confounds the Yanks to this day. 

So enjoy this day, never forget who you are, and don't allow anyone to deny you your identity: Australian, made from Anglo-Saxon and Celt into one people forged on a sunburnt land. 

This is Australia. 

Wednesday 25 January 2023

Society More Against Men Today?



A lot of people think society is more anti-man today than it used to be. Maybe you make this case, but I'm not so sure. Men have always, always, been the disposable sex. 

Martin Van Creveld, the eminent historian, proves this conclusively in his book, The Privileged Sex, how woman have always been privileged by society. If you think of privilege as political power you'll find this confusing, but if you understand that where most resources and protection have been directed shows true privilege then this will make more sense. Indeed, it's necessary, more resources need to dedicated to protecting those who nurture the next generation. It's just how it has to be. 

If you look at how men were disposable in the workforce, in exploration, in war, in many other ways in the past, you'll see how despised men really were. If a village was raided all the women might be taken into some despots harem, but all the fighting age men would be put to sword. Who was more privileged there? In war or work men's commanding officers or supervisors had very little qualms about expending their lives, if there was victory or profit in the endeavour. It was common.

Consider World War One, even after it was clear that sending men into machine gun fire was pointless, you gained little if any ground, Generals and Governments still ordered it. Just one more charge as Blackadder would point out, one more "heroic" charge. But every charge stole countless men from society. It's hard to see how men were more valued there and then, as they are today. Maybe more useful? 

Society has always, always been stacked against men. Only about 20% of men have passed on their genetics in history, and about 80% of women. These stat's are roughly similar to online dating. Men were always more expendable. 

So, I don't think it's so much that society is against men today, any more than in the past. It's just doesn't know what to do with men anymore. In the past it could ship them off in Viking raiding parties, Colonial exploration ships, or Imperial conquest armies, and to the survivors went the spoils. Whereas today these options don't really exist (except maybe in the unstable parts of Africa, or other less civilised areas). Because society doesn't know what to do with men, society turns on them in different ways. 

Of course this is partly a product of easy times, these easy times will fade eventually, and people will recognize how necessary men are for protecting their society again. But men will then just be expended again in these efforts. It's the way of things. 

It's emcumbent on the men of society to understand this and rise above it. Work hard to create your part in the world. Earn respect and don't complain about society being against men. When hasn't it been? Overcome, work hard, get a wife, raise kids and teach your boys to be overcomers, to love Jesus and advance his kingdom. Those of us alive today are descended from the men of the past that overcame. The Church today exists because of Christian men that did this. 

Tuesday 24 January 2023

National Identity and Australia Day

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National Identity And Australia Day

If your view of national identity is state derived, that is, you believe you can change your national identity through changing your citizenship, and your national identity is what your passport says it is, and being a nation is only valid in the era of the "nation-state", then you would find it very hard to understand why any Australian citizen would hate Australia day. It's the national day, its a celebration of all Australians. Why would anyone be against this?

However, if your idea of national identity is defined by ethnic, cultural and linguistic background, and derived from people who are connected by nativity (i.e. birth and kinship) which is how the Bible defines it, and it is understood in most of history, and what the word actually means, then Australia day is not for all people in this country. It is something that the largely British and Irish descended Australians can celebrate (who happen to be the majority), but it is a reminder to many Indigenous Australians that they are no longer sovereign in their ancestral lands.

Not all feel this way of course, and readers could easily comment here and point out prominent examples of Indigenous Australians who love celebrating Australia day. Readers could also talk about how British settlement improved the land, brought Christianity with it, suppressed certain pagan practices that weren't good, and created one of the greatest nations in the world today. I get it, I have written about it, and know this better than most.

But I can tell you this, as the son of an Englishman, I would never celebrate the landing of William the Conqueror at Pevensey, in the south of England. If I was a Norman in 11th Century England or Normandy I might. It does not matter how your land is taken from you, the result is all that matters, and people struggle with loss of national sovereignty (by that I simply mean being ruled by your own kin ([cf. Deut. 17:15]). I understand why many Indigenous do not celebrate Australia Day. It's not because of the left (though the left exploit it and increase the divisions for political gain) it is because they are not sovereign in their own land. Something the Anglo-Saxons resented for the entire existence of the Norman dynasty which ruled them, and you can't in all honesty pretend there was some version of our modern left in Norman England. 

As the son of an Englishman, I do celebrate Australia Day, because it reminds us of the first fleet that brought the great British way of life here to Australia. I know many people of different ethnicities who love the British ways of common law, and liberty, and think that England created some of the best civilisations in history. But many Anglo-Saxons did not care how the Norman conquests lifted the standing of England in Germanic and Frankish parts of Europe. They did not care about the European refinements to their language and culture. They just wanted to live under Anglo-Saxon kings in England, the land of the Angles.

Before you reflexively seek to say, "Oh Matt is pushing lefty talking points now", note this: we are the Indigenous now. Just as they lost their land to mostly peaceful settlers moving in and making it a different place, so too is the same thing happening to us, the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic Aussies. If you are honest about what is happening to our way of life, you can then see it from the Indigenous perspective more clearly. 

I will be celebrating Australia day, I know people of many different national identities who will be too, but I understand why some won't be. And it's not always a lefty thing, people long to live free, and by free I don't mean the modern Satano-libertarian do whatever you want degenerate pseudo-freedom. I mean free from foreign rule. All people's long for this.

Monday 23 January 2023

Marcus Aurelius a Persecutor of Christians?

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Marcus Aurelius A Persecutor of Christians?

I have long wondered how someone as obviously intelligent and seemingly noble as Marcus Aurelius could have also been a dedicated persecutor of Christians. 

Take this reflection of Aurelius,

"I have no cause to hurt myself: I have never consciously hurt anyone else."[i] 

or this, 

"Joy varies from person to person. My joy is if I keep my directing mind pure, denying no human being or human circumstance, but looking with kindly eyes, giving welcome use to each as it deserves."[ii]

Marcus goes out of his way to advocate for virtue, kindness and justice in his meditations. Of course he also directed armies and led war efforts, but he intentionally sought to be a good man in all he did.  

I have long just put it down to the fact that human beings are complicated, contradictory, and do not even live up to their own standards, and that he probably thought he was doing what was best for Rome. This does not excuse such evil, if committed, of course, but often the tyrant who exercises the sword harshly at the innocent believes that it is actually they who are on the side of good. Even Darth Vader just wanted to bring order to the Galaxy, in his own unique way.  

But it turns out that the evidence of whether Aurelius actively persecuted Christians is mixed, and leans towards exonerating him. 

Reflecting on a letter accusing Aurelius of being a harsh persecutor of Christians, an expert on Aurelius' thinking notes,

“The letter continues to describe numerous gory tortures with a level of detail that can appear somewhat excessive and colourful.  Many modern readers consequently find the style suggestive of fiction, or at least embellishment.

Moreover, there are several very striking problems faced by those who want to try to use this letter as evidence for the claim that Marcus persecuted Christians:

    1. Eusebius finished writing the Ecclesiastical History in roughly 300 AD, well over a hundred years after the alleged incident took place.  There’s no indication when the letter he’s quoting was actually written.  However, he is claiming that the events described in it happened long before he was even born.  He therefore had no first-hand knowledge of them but depended entirely on the account given in the letter cited, the authenticity of which, as we’ll see, is highly doubtful.
    2. Historians have to take into account the “argument from silence”: no other pagan or Christian author of the period makes any mention whatsoever of these events having happened, despite their striking and dramatic nature.  It’s highly remarkable that no other Christian author of the period actually refers to this incident.  Indeed, the first author in Gaul to mention this event was Sulpicius Severus, writing 400 years later, and his only source appears to be Eusebius.
    3. The church father Irenaeus, the Christian Bishop of Lyon, where the incident allegedly took place, wrote his mammoth five volume Adversus Haereses in 180 AD, three years after the alleged persecution.  And yet, he makes absolutely no mention whatsoever of this momentous event having happened in his own city.  In fact, on the contrary, he actually says “The Romans have given the world peace, and we [Christians] travel without fear along the roads and across the sea wherever we will.” (Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 30, Sentence 3).
    4. The church father Tertullian, was aged around twenty at the time the incident at Lyon supposedly happened.  As we’ll see, although he was actually alive at the time, he also makes no mention of the persecution at Lyon, and actually says quite emphatically that Marcus Aurelius was a “protector” of Christians…

…But out of so many princes from that time down to the present, men versed in every system of knowledge, produce if you can one persecutor of the Christians. We, however, can on the other side produce a protector, if the letters of the most grave Emperor Marcus Aurelius be searched, in which he testifies that the well-known Germanic drought was dispelled by the shower obtained through the prayers of Christians who happened to be in the army. (Apology, 5).”

I knew already the famous account of how Christians gained protection in the Roman armies, the famous “Thunderbolt Legion” and the miracle of rain. I wondered if maybe it is a case of Marcus Aurelius changing his mind? Or because he was away from Rome so much his elites took persecution into their own hands? 

It was not just Marcus Aurelius who thought of himself as being intentionally kind, we also see that others saw him this way,

“Marcus’ obsession with kindness, justice and clemency, is clearly demonstrated throughout The Meditations.  However, this is reinforced by numerous references to his character in the writings of other Roman authors.  Marcus is portrayed with remarkable consistency as being a man of exceptional clemency and humanity – that was his universal reputation.  Latin authors typically used the word humanitas (kindness) to describe his character; in Greek the word philanthropia (love of mankind) was favoured."

This is fascinating information, and perhaps you were already aware of this, but I was not. It may have been mentioned to me at some point, of course. Other than knowing about the miraculous event with the Thunderbolt Legion,[iii] I did not realize there was considerable evidence that Aurelius was more tolerant towards Christians than I had thought.

This warrants further examination, but I thought you would find this interesting.

 



[i] Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Penguin Classics, p110.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_XII_Fulminata